For the last few years, I have been on a low dose blood pressure lowering medication. My dad had high blood pressure, so I wasn't surprised when I, too, was diagnosed. Monitoring blood pressure is simple. Whenever I think about it, I use the home BP monitoring device I bought at Walgreens which precisely measures my BP and heart rate. I write down the results on a table my internist gave me and once a year, he looks at it and makes dosing adjustments, if necessary. Unlike BP medications, it's not possible to know if chemotherapeutic agents are working without periodic imaging studies, such as CT scans, which can't be done at home. I go to the hospital and from the time I check-in until I walk out, it's a 2-hour appointment. I start getting nervous a few days before the tests until I hear the results. The way it works is that we cancer patients dutifully get chemotherapy, either by IV infusion or, as in my case, orally for several weeks or a few months. ...
It's nearly impossible for me to believe it's already mid-April of 2016! Since January, life has been a whirlwind of good and not-so-good things. I've come to realize that whether it's good times or bad times, being busy is being busy. Time escapes me. Today has been a good...no...let me start again...Today has been a GREAT day, so I'm not going to whine about anything. Springtime in Chicago is unpredictable - sunny and warm or cold and snowy, in the same day. This spring has been predictably unpredictable, but today in Chicago was beautiful . Although it was a little windy on Michigan Avenue, it was sunny and the temperature was around 50 degrees. I got to do one of my favorite things today. Wynn and I took our day off and made our way to the Art Institute to see a special exhibit: Van Gogh's Bedrooms http://www.artic.e...
It's 4:00 AM and I'm lying awake thinking about my upcoming day. In several hours I'll be having follow-up CT scans of my chest, abdomen, and pelvis to see what's happening inside me. Ideally, there will be fewer tumors and the remaining ones will be smaller. (Ideally, ideally...they'd all be gone, but I know better so I just hope for fewer and smaller.). Along with CT scans today, I'm having a brain MRI to make sure that the cancer hasn't spread there. Although I feel like Xalkori has been working well for me below my neck, it's known that it does not cross the blood brain barrier. I'm told that researchers think that while Xalkori is working, the risk of brain mets is probably reduced, but certainly not zero. If I haven't mentioned it yet, I'm really, really afraid of getting brain mets. Aside from associated (major) headaches and seizures, I'm so afraid of anything that will mess wi...
Comments
Post a Comment